At the Minnesota Twins Metrodome on july 3rd 2009, the Detroit Tigers Joel Zumaya threw a pitch that was registered at 105. It was in the bottom of the 10th inning i believe (although it may have been the bottom of the 11th, the innings tend to blend into each other in a 16 inning game). It has yet to be "officially" verified (and thus placed among the record books). He registered 1 other pitch at 104 and several more at 103. I personally watched the game and as a Tigers fan, have seen him pitch in about 85% of his games. On a side note, I was at the TIgers-Astros game on 06-27-06 when Zumaya threw 103 in the top of the 8th 3 times. Interestingly, Roger "The Rocket" Clemens started for Astros, and hit 97 mph once, but that pitch looked like a change up in comparison to Zumaya's fastballs. Seeing a fast pitch on TV does NO justice to witnessing that speed in person.
It should be noted though that the Metrodome is one of the the most notorious fields for the ball moving significantly quicker than other fields (and no, the "air conditioner" theory about blowing the ball is a fallacy, the difference in barometric pressure inside the aging dome as opposed to the outdoors or other modern domes is the most likely explanation for this widely known unusual behavior of the ball) This also may be part of the reason why the Twins play so well at home especially in recent history.
Also, The biomechanical limits of the human body based on fixed ratios of arm bone lengths, tendon & ligament maximum strength and the size of the muscles required to throw XXX speed set a scientific and mathematically calculated limit on the speed a ball can be thrown at 105 mph. Any pitch reported to be faster was either thrown by Robocop or was recorded by an inaccurate or outdated radar gun. For instance, Bob Fellers "107 mph pitch" allegedly recorded at an airforce base was corrected and recalculated to be 98 mph, due to the primitive nature of the radar gun (which was just being developed at that time). Accurate speed readings on radar guns (for the sake of "records") weren't developed enough to be reliable until the early 1990's, so any pitch speeds recorded before then should not be trusted as accurate.
--> All information (to the very best of my knowledge) is accurate, true and verifiable if you wish to research it.
-If Joel Zumaya could keep his shoulder in one piece, he would be much more formidable. Strangely enough, his offspeed power curveball (thrown between 83-87 mph) seems to be his most effective pitch because of the change of speed and movement that juxtaposes his laser beam 4SFB, but he unfortunately relies almost entirely on his 4SFB, which he typically throws about 90% of the time.
It should be noted though that the Metrodome is one of the the most notorious fields for the ball moving significantly quicker than other fields (and no, the "air conditioner" theory about blowing the ball is a fallacy, the difference in barometric pressure inside the aging dome as opposed to the outdoors or other modern domes is the most likely explanation for this widely known unusual behavior of the ball) This also may be part of the reason why the Twins play so well at home especially in recent history.
Also, The biomechanical limits of the human body based on fixed ratios of arm bone lengths, tendon & ligament maximum strength and the size of the muscles required to throw XXX speed set a scientific and mathematically calculated limit on the speed a ball can be thrown at 105 mph. Any pitch reported to be faster was either thrown by Robocop or was recorded by an inaccurate or outdated radar gun. For instance, Bob Fellers "107 mph pitch" allegedly recorded at an airforce base was corrected and recalculated to be 98 mph, due to the primitive nature of the radar gun (which was just being developed at that time). Accurate speed readings on radar guns (for the sake of "records") weren't developed enough to be reliable until the early 1990's, so any pitch speeds recorded before then should not be trusted as accurate.
--> All information (to the very best of my knowledge) is accurate, true and verifiable if you wish to research it.
-If Joel Zumaya could keep his shoulder in one piece, he would be much more formidable. Strangely enough, his offspeed power curveball (thrown between 83-87 mph) seems to be his most effective pitch because of the change of speed and movement that juxtaposes his laser beam 4SFB, but he unfortunately relies almost entirely on his 4SFB, which he typically throws about 90% of the time.
